Question

Asiatic lions live in the wild only in one part of India. Where?

Assertion (A): In a national park, cattle of nearby villages are freely allowed to graze. Reason (R): National parks are set up to protect the whole ecosystem, including its plants, animals and landscape.

Give two differences between a national park and a wildlife sanctuary.

The Sundarbans, in the delta of the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers, is the largest mangrove forest in the world. Mangrove trees grow in salty, muddy water and their tangled roots protect the coast from cyclones and storm waves. The area is home to the Royal Bengal tiger, the estuarine crocodile, many fish and birds. The Indian part is protected as a national park, a tiger reserve and a biosphere reserve, and it is also a World Heritage Site. However, rising sea level, cutting of mangroves, over-fishing and pollution threaten this ecosystem.